After reading this DMN article stating that at least 1 in 4 teenage girls have a sexually transmitted disease and 48% of Black teenage girls have an STD, I thought I would post the Christian Family Manifesto (below) adopted at our 2005 Heritage and Hope Family Conference. This manifesto was also adopted by a fellowship of pastors called “Not On My Watch” that addressed the same sex marriage challenge our country is facing.

If each believer takes the following Christian Manifesto seriously, we can reverse these statistics.

The Christian Family Manifesto

Not On My Watch is a fellowship of Pastors dedicated to protecting, preserving and promoting the biblical concept of the family. As we observe families in decline and defeat, we feel compelled to raise a prophetic voice to give encouragement and direction to the family to submit to God’s design for the family; thereby restoring security, stability, structure, and wholesomeness back to family life.

In light of the decline and destruction of today’s family, we offer the following ten (10) biblical recommendations in order to enhance the permanence and prominence of family life. Our goal is to bring joy to the family, not judgment, and we believe these ten (10) statements, if followed, would ultimately bring joy to the family and community.We believe that the problems of any family will not be solved by the White House, congress, or courts, no matter who is in office. We also believe the plight and problem of American families can be corrected, but it must first start with the man and/or woman who leads each home.

Many of us have violated one or more of these statements. However, we’re grateful that God is a God of forgiveness, a God of a second chance, and a God who loves us when we’ve done wrong, but loves us too much to allow us to continue to do wrong without a word of grace and truth.

We define a family as a single adult head of household, single adult with children, a legally married husband (male) and wife (female), and a legally married husband (male) and wife (female) with children.

We stand together to promote, protect, and preserve the family.

We encourage young men and women to flee youthful lust and postpone sex until marriage for moral and economic reasons. (I Corinthians 7:1-2)

We encourage all unmarried couples living together to marry in accordance with God’s Word and will. Again, this provides stability, structure, and security for the family. (I Timothy 5:14)

We encourage intact families with fathers to open their hearts and homes to fatherless children in our communities who desperately need a positive biblical male presence in their lives. (James 1:27)

We want to express love, mercy, grace and truth to those involved in a homosexual lifestyle. We encourage them to receive God’s forgiveness and seek fellowship, restoration and counseling in a Bible believing local church. We further encourage the President and all Democrat and Republican Congressmen to work together to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment. Many of the republican presidential and congressional candidates campaigned on this issue. We respectfully and publicly encourage them to be as diligent in bringing the FMA up for vote, as they did during the campaign and as they have passionately promoted social security reform and judicial nominations. We also encourage families in each state to support State Constitutional Amendments declaring marriages to be between one man and one woman. We further encourage families to support the Federal Marriage Amendment. (Genesis 2:24)

We encourage all men to pay child support voluntarily and without complaining, recognizing this as your reasonable responsibility if you are to be in God’s will. (I Timothy 5:8).

We challenge every man to honor his marriage vows. We encourage men to not pursue or file for divorce and to seek forgiveness and reconciliation. We’re asking men to take responsibility for reducing the large number of divorces and children born out of wedlock by honoring marriage vows and abstaining from fornication and adultery. (Matthew 19:1-9)

We encourage single women to stop sleeping with married men and single men to cease sleeping with married women. This lifestyle works to destabilize and destroy the family when they allow themselves to participate in the violation of marriage vows. (Proverbs 5)

We encourage all men with children to regularly spend time with their children and take the initiative to be involved in their lives in a meaningful way; whether the children live in the home with them or not. (I Timothy 5:8 and Malachi 4:5-6)

We applaud, appreciate, and affirm single mothers and fathers who, for whatever reasons, are raising children without the benefit of a spouse. We encourage them to take advantage of the mentoring programs available in many local churches. (James 1:27)

We encourage all families to tithe a minimum of 10% to the local church, save 10% of their income, and pursue a debt-free lifestyle. (Malachi 3:8-12, Matthew 23:23, Proverbs 6:6-8)

We trust that this Christian Family Manifesto will be accepted in the spirit in which it was given. We publish this manifesto so Christian families can hold each other accountable and to affirm the biblical view of family life in a culture and climate that’s fastly distancing itself from biblical values.